Chapter 111 : Chapter 111
Chapter 111 - That Won’t Do
“I…”
Whooosh!
A cold wind blew between the two men.
Perhaps it was because of the bizarre expression on Danseol’s face.
The sound of the blowing wind sounded like the wailing of a ghost.
“Since I was young, I’ve really hated killing things.”
“Isn’t that the same for everyone?”
“Not everyone is forced to do it like I was.”
“…………!”
As if performing ventriloquism, Danseol’s voice seeped through his badly torn lips.
“Even before I learned to read, I was constantly forced to kill something. At first, they told me to catch and kill the insects hiding among the wild grasses, then they ordered me to bring the entrails of a flapping fish, and as if skinning a mountain beast alive wasn’t enough…”
Danseol’s lips, stretched wide to the sides, trembled.
“Eventually, they even ordered me to bring the heart of a tied-up person.”
Biyoung, who had been listening silently, threw a question.
“…Who?”
“The one you suspect.”
“I see.”
As if he understood the situation to some extent, Biyoung let out a sigh, ‘Hoo.’
“Senior Brother. Be careful from now on.”
“About what?”
“That expression. I was about to draw my sword just now, you know?”
“Haha.”
Danseol burst into his usual light laughter.
The horrifying smile that had settled on his face vanished without a trace.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve shown this expression to someone. It was a habit that came out when I was forced to kill things I didn’t want to kill.”
“Did it make it easier to kill then?”
“No. The people around me would back away.”
“Indeed.”
In terms of a ferocious appearance, Uma was definitely number one.
But the expression Danseol had just made had something special that couldn’t be described by mere looks.
It was a feeling that if one provoked this man any further, one of the two would surely see blood.
“In that sense, you’re the first person to stir me in a really long time, Junior Brother.”
“I’ll have to be careful in the future.”
Biyoung replied with a rotten smile.
It wasn’t just an empty phrase; it was truly an expression he never wanted to face again.
Regardless of swordsmanship skill, getting involved with that face seemed like it would bring bad luck for at least three generations.
On the other hand, a curiosity surged within him about what would happen if he forcibly showed that expression to Solbo.
“I had a feeling you were suspicious of me. Unlike the other Senior Brothers, you were watching me carefully.”
“I told you, didn’t I? Soft Blade Chaste Heart. It’s not simply because you hurt your hand here. Around the time we left the Diancang Mountain, your sword was wavering, Senior Brother.”
“…Was it.”
A flexible sword was a very delicate weapon.
One might think that a typically hard and sharp sword would be difficult to handle, but it was the exact opposite.
Without an upright mind and concentration, a flexible sword would easily go out of control.
There was no way Danseol’s sword, which had grown by leaps and bounds over six months, would waver for no reason.
It was for this very reason that Biyoung had been keeping a close eye on Danseol since they departed for Hunan.
Danseol was wavering.
Why.
For what reason?
“A sword is a truly convenient tool. Especially when it comes to reading a person’s heart. Your training hours were the same as ever, Senior Brother, but the tip of your sword was different from usual.”
“I must be a fool. To have sparred with you all this way here without even knowing that…”
“Don’t blame yourself too much. That subtle difference is something only someone of my level can detect. The other Senior Brothers are sleeping peacefully at this very moment, aren’t they?”
“Haha. Is that so.”
Danseol, who nodded once, erased his smile and continued speaking.
“I know what you suspect. But I have never harbored any other intentions with the martial uniform I wear and the sword I hold in my hand.”
“Really? What if I don’t believe you?”
“In that case… there would be no other way.”
Clang!
Danseol drew his flexible sword.
‘I have no choice but to break through.’
He had hoped to be believed, but if he wasn’t, it couldn’t be helped.
He was no match for Biyoung, but if even a needle-sized opening appeared, he would escape this place.
It was just as Danseol thought that.
“Senior Brother.”
“?!”
Jjirit.
A sharp sensation began to dig into Danseol’s entire body.
“Ugh…!!”
“You still don’t know your place.”
For the first time in a long while, Danseol felt the suffocating fear of the prey.
When was the last time he felt this way?
Right.
It was like this when he first met Biyoung in Simao.
The feeling of being a rabbit before a tiger.
The fear that his body would be torn to shreds at any moment.
The very same killing intent that Biyoung had intentionally unleashed to gauge Danseol’s skill was once again taking over his body.
“You dare try to fight me, with your wrist not even fully healed?”
The usually goofy image of Biyoung was nowhere to be found.
The junior brother before him, no, the swordsman, was a master of another dimension who could neutralize him anytime he wished.
The needle-sized opening he had tried to find was, in reality, something that did not exist in this world.
Seueuk.
But despite that, Danseol aimed his sword at Biyoung.
“The day I defeat you will probably never come in my lifetime. Your suspicions are also extremely valid.”
“And yet?”
“But that doesn’t mean I’ll sell out my true intentions. I am a swordsman of the Diancang Sect, and I will continue to be.”
“Hoh. Is that so?”
Biyoung gave a provocative smile and slowly lowered his hand.
At the tip of his fingers, a sword hilt was waiting for its master.
Seeing this, Danseol sensed his fate.
‘It will be difficult to get through tonight safely.’
Danseol had experienced it countless times.
Not a single person who had seen Biyoung draw his sword had survived.
‘Well. It doesn’t matter, since I’ll be able to achieve my goal anyway.’
Thinking that way made him feel much more at ease.
Danseol put strength into his bandaged hand and raised the blade forward.
However,
Gurgle.
“?”
Biyoung’s hand was not heading for the hilt of his sword.
It had stopped at his own belly button, which was clamoring to have something put inside.
“Really? Alright. I’m going to get something to eat.”
“Wha-what?”
Unlike Danseol, who couldn’t believe his ears, Biyoung’s expression was the picture of composure.
“You said you didn’t do it, Senior Brother. So I have to believe you. A junior brother should always listen well to his senior brother. Isn’t that right?”
“Well, yes…”
That was true, but.
Danseol was so dumbfounded that he couldn’t continue.
Just a moment ago, he was shooting killing intent as if to devour him, and now he suddenly says he’ll believe him?
No.
Aside from that.
Since when did you ever respect your seniors?
You, who lived for the fun of beating up the Senior Brothers day in and day out?
At Biyoung’s absurdly changed attitude, Danseol felt his train of thought come to a halt.
“I don’t trust people easily. But,”
“…………?”
“I can trust you, Senior Brother.”
“……!”
An unknown hot energy surged up from a corner of Danseol’s chest.
He deliberately ignored the feeling and asked coldly.
“Why is that?”
“Because of the times we rolled in the dirt together.”
“You trust someone just for that?”
“What are you talking about? What could be more truthful than the time spent going through hell together?”
Biyoung asked back with wide eyes, and Danseol was at a loss for words.
“Senior Brother, there’s something else to this fight besides the fact that you’re a swordsman of the Diancang Sect, right? If my guess is correct, you wouldn’t want to concede the final moment either.”
“……You saw through that much.”
Shake, shake.
Danseol shook his head as if completely fed up.
Looking back now, he even wondered if he had been dancing on the palm of Biyoung’s hand all this time.
“I’ll give you one chance. But if I give the order, you retreat immediately. That will be your limit.”
At Biyoung’s words, Danseol gave a bitter smile.
A moment ago he was going on about how he should listen to his senior brother, and now he was talking about giving ‘orders’.
Where in the world was there a junior brother who gave orders to his senior during a battle?
‘But…’
It was fine.
Whatever the case, Biyoung had said he would trust him, and for now, that was enough.
“Anyway, if you want to achieve your goal, you’ll have to recover completely in one day, right?”
Biyoung’s gaze turned to his bandaged hand.
Danseol answered with his characteristic slitted eyes.
“I must. Even if I have to drive a blade into my palm.”
***
Jangil Escort Agency.
A place where hundreds of people passed through the main gate every day.
It was a place where so many people came and went that there was a joke that ‘even if the king came, he would be buried.’
But today.
Under the cover of night, figures gathered silently through the quietly opened gates.
Four men and women with diverse appearances and attire.
And with them, over a hundred swordsmen dressed in pitch-black martial uniforms, with even their builds being similar.
The two moving groups each had different characteristics, but there was just one thing in common.
They made no sound as they walked.
They were the Green Killer Squad, the core fighting force of the Ghost Face Gang, and the Ghost Face Four Shadows, the direct forces of the Gang Leader.
“………….”
Countless people were passing through one space, yet there was no sound of footsteps, not even the rustle of clothes.
It was a sight that would make any observer mistakenly think that an invisible hand was covering both their ears.
A silence so thick it felt suffocating.
The long silence was finally broken after they had all gathered in the main hall.
“Well, well…”
A middle-aged man with a triangular chin looked around with arrogant eyes.
“Our Gang Leader has really scraped the bottom of the barrel. Was there any need for this? The four of us, no, I alone would have been enough.”
“Galsa. Watch your mouth.”
The person called Galsa was the second of the Ghost Face Four Shadows, Jin Galsa of the Nine-Serpent Shadow Whip.
Jin Galsa was a man who possessed a disposition as wicked and cunning as the weapon he wielded, and he was rumored to be the most troublesome to deal with among the Ghost Face Four Shadows.
“Why. Are you scared too, Ju Mil?”
The person called Ju Mil glared at Jin Galsa, a deep frown forming between their brows.
It was a person with androgynous features, making it impossible to determine if they were male or female.
The Adam’s apple suggested male, but the finely made-up face made it hard to think of them as a man.
The Ghost Face Four Shadows, known as the demon of hidden weapons, Ju Mil of the Unaware Death Shadow.
The moniker was given because their victims became shadows of the afterlife without even realizing where or by whom they were struck.
“Galsa. One day, you will pay dearly for that mouth of yours.”
This time, from the opposite side, the third of the Ghost Face Shadows, Ha Dalbun of the Spring Sun Withered Shadow, glared gracefully.
At first glance, she looked like a pretty young lady in her late teens, but in reality, her true form was that of an old woman well past sixty.
As her proficiency in poison arts was extremely high, there was rampant speculation that a special medicine must have been used on her rejuvenated appearance.
Despite the two’s taunts, Jin Galsa didn’t bat an eye and sneered.
“It seems our Gang Leader hasn’t seen blood in a long time. In the past, he would have wiped them out himself in the time it took to gather kids…”
“Shut your mouth.”
“!”
The mouth of the second shadow, who seemed like he wouldn’t listen to anyone, shut in an instant.
The only person Jin Galsa feared, aside from the Gang Leader.
That man’s sticky voice had flown like a blade and pierced his eardrums.
“Hmph.”
Jin Galsa snorted and avoided the man’s gaze.
A skinny frame with not an ounce of flesh.
Dark and gloomy eyes, as if the night sky had been condensed and embedded in them.
The best assassin of the Ghost Face Four Shadows, whose entire body felt like one large sword.
Yi Cheon-yu of the Sword Shadow Soul Stealing.
An assassin who started from the bottom of the Ghost Face Gang, was incorporated into the Green Killer Squad, and rose to become the first of the Ghost Face Four Shadows without ever failing a mission.
Thousands had met their end at his hands, and because his hands always smelled of blood, he was even given the moniker ‘Hands Always Smelling of Blood’.
The fact that Jin Galsa, who seemed to fear nothing in the world, yielded to him was a testament to the skill of Yi Cheon-yu of the Sword Shadow Soul Stealing.
“………….”
As Jin Galsa shut his mouth, a suffocating silence fell once again.
And before them, a figure in silk clothes wearing a ghastly white mask appeared.
Like them, there was still no sound of footsteps.
“It’s been a while, everyone.”
The Ghost Face Gang Leader, Dancheong.
At his voice, over a hundred personnel knelt on one knee in unison.
The Ghost Face Four Shadows, including Jin Galsa, all bowed their heads and lowered their gazes.
He who sees the ghost face is killed, and he who sees the bare face has his soul plundered.
A moniker that had been circulating since the Ghost Face Gang began to dominate the Hunan region.
Ghost Killing Soul Plunderer Dancheong.
Dancheong, who had become the de facto ruler of the Changsha area, was an object of both respect and fear to the gang members.
“The Ghost Face Four Shadows will move with me to Dongting Lake tomorrow, and the Green Killer Squad will attack the Diancang Sect right now.”
“!”
Dancheong’s orders were always simple and clear, nothing special.
What was surprising was the content.
Could it be that there were survivors from the Diancang Sect, where not even a single ant was left alive in the past?
The Ghost Face Four Shadows, who had attacked Diancang Mountain at the time, each revealed sharp gazes.
“Seeing them destroy our business establishments single-handedly, their core forces are here. In other words, Diancang Mountain is undefended. Foolishly, they are making the same mistake as before.”
‘Indeed.’
Only then could Jin Galsa see Dancheong’s true intention.
He intended not just to kill the core swordsmen of the Diancang Sect, but to pull them out by the roots entirely.
“This time, kill everything living on Diancang Mountain. And bring the Sect Leader of the Diancang Sect to me alive. I will personally sear his eyeballs and pull out his tongue.”
Words like ‘As you command!’ did not come out.
For an assassin group, loud noises were a taboo act.
However.
“That won’t do.”
“?!”
In this place where even a simple reply was forbidden, there was someone who dared to defy.
The gazes of the assassins, as well as the Ghost Face Four Shadows and Dancheong, all turned to one spot.
‘Which bastard dares…?’
Thud, thud.
The sound of footsteps, which had been absent until now, clearly echoed through the main hall.
One of the members standing at the very back of the Green Killer Squad slowly walked out to the side.
Over a hundred gazes filled with killing intent flew and pierced him, but the man seemed to enjoy it, swaggering his shoulders.
As he pulled down the mask covering his chin, a dazzlingly handsome smile was revealed.
“Because you’re all going to die here today.”